During a ceremonial event of the program's trial at Public Islamic Junior High School (MTs) 1 Kudus in Kudus District, Central Java, on Wednesday, he remarked that the trials are targeting 134,959 elementary and junior high school students.
He noted that among the regions implementing such a trial are Surakarta City, Salatiga City, and Kudus District.
In Kudus, a trial is conducted for 2,599 students at Public MTs 1 Kudus, Junior High School 1 Gebog, Elementary School 2 Wergu Wetan, and Umar bin Khattab Islamic Elementary School, he added.
Soesanto underscored that President-elect Prabowo Subianto's Free Nutritious Meals Program aims not only to provide nutritious food to schoolchildren but also serves as a means to take the nation closer to the actualization of the Golden Indonesia 2045 vision.
The official further remarked that through the trials, the government expects to identify areas for improvement to ensure that the program's implementation next year runs smoothly without problems.
He then highlighted the importance of preventing contamination of the meals provided, which might lead to diseases, by ensuring the hygiene of the kitchens of the catering parties involved.
"We have not found any issues since the trials began on September 30, 2024, in Kudus," he stated.
The presidential adviser, however, reminded the Kudus district government to continue conducting supervision on the quality of the trials.
Meanwhile, Acting Head of Kudus District M. Hasan Chabibie noted that his administration had allocated a budget of Rp147 million (USD9.6 thousand) to carry out the trials with support from some private companies.
He said the district government had arranged an inventory of data on schoolchildren who will receive free nutritious meals for next year.
"We will coordinate with the central government since it (the data) will affect the budget calculation at the national level," he stated.
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Translator: Akhmad N, Tegar Nurfitra
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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